swarnabha , subhojit

Pearl Jam !!

I wish I was an alien at home behind the sun ,I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on.I wish I was the pedal brake that you depended on,I wish I was the verb ‘to trust’ and never let you down.

And they have never let me down. You know, its very difficult for something to be my favourite as am a big critic and its almost impossible for that thing to stay in that position for 5 years. When the field is music you can understand the competition and being a music buff, I have searched, researched on all kinds of international and national bands. I found and heard almost everything from Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably numb’ to Devang Patel’s ‘Pichhadi pe kutta kata’. But I havn’t found anybody else who lifts my spirit out of my body and pumps my heart so fast that I feel like an animal and sometimes slows it down so much that I feel like dead. The lyrics so powerful that it gives me the strength to be a rebel and bring out those feelings which I have never felt before. They are Pearl Jam. A 5 member powerhouse. Inspiring millions and rocking the world since 1990.

” Till date, the band has sold over 31.5 million records in the U.S, and an estimated 60 million worldwide. Pearl Jam has outlasted many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic referred to Pearl Jam as “the most popular American rock & roll band of the ’90s.” Pearl Jam will be eligible to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.” [courtesy http://www.wikipedia.org].

Trust me you don’t need the opinion of some referrer from Allmusic to know that they are the greatest. Just listen to them and you will realize it better than anyone.This 5 member band consists of Matt Cameron as drummer, Mike McCready as lead guitarist, Stone Gossard in rhythm and lead guitars, Jeff Ament as bassist and Eddie Vedder as an idol.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard initially started a band with the tremendously charismatic Andrew Wood on the vocals and called themselves Mother Love Bone. Later in an interview Gossard said Andrew was the person who made them feel like rockstars for the first time. Later Andy died due to drug overdose, they were devastated and they needed a vocalist to replace someone like Andy. Then Mike McCready and Cameron joined in but still no vocalist. Months later they heard the voice of the ‘new kid’ Eddie from a demo cassette that Jeff found and the band finally got everything that was remaining. I haven’t heard a person like Eddie with so much voice modulation. Eddie has this amazing baritone voice which makes you feel like the voice is coming from the sky and beaming all over you like God speaking to you. He can scream like an animal and has an amazing range in his voice and has also worked with the famous Sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.Then the band went for several world tours (not yet in India though). If you see Pearl jam live shows through the years you can see how they got mature and how innovative they always are and how they will always surprise you with stage jumps and crazy expressions and emotions. Starting from the famous stage jump in 1992 PinkPop Festival and then MTV Unplugged, Immagine in Cornice which is like a tour video and many more. Recently Cameron Crowe made an awesome documentary on them called PJ20, do watch it. While watching the shows, you just can’t take your eyes off Eddie. He has this way of communicating with the crowd which makes you respect him, respect his thoughts and makes you be like him. He will push you to the edge and hypnotize you with his words, expressions and gestures. You will feel free and different.

Each song will give you a different trip. You will feel like a madman if u listen to ‘evenflow’, ‘porch’ or ‘do the evolution’, you will feel like floating when u listen to ‘release’ ,’thin air’ or ‘given to fly’. You will feel pain when you listen to ‘alive’ or ‘last kiss’ and songs like ‘wishlist’ and ‘better man’ will give you hopes. They have released 9 albums till now.

Listen to them all. You will get to hear the amazing chemistry in their composition which is only possible when amazing musicians play with each other for a really long time. I have heard a lot of amazing lead guitarist like Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Van Halen, Slash, John Frusciante, Jerry Cantrell and many more, but the playing of Mike McCready just fits with the songs so well that even if he is not technically talented like David Gilmour or Van Halen, Mike sounds more real and passionate. Jeff Ament on the other hand does a wonderfull job with the bass, you will realize that the bass lines are pretty tricky in songs like Jeremy and Alive. Matt Cameron is just awesome. He is one of my favourite drummer. My favourite being Mike Portnoy (used to play for Dream Theatre). Stone Gossard is a mastermind composer and he together with Eddie have composed those wonderful tracks through years.

One last thing I want to say : Hey Eddie …. am already saving up so that one day I can see you perform. I promise you I will bribe and beg to the security and will definitely meet you personally and when I do so , God help you. Stay away from fans like us.